Donkey by jlmaral
For 1 Samuel I am going to cheat again, I just don’t think I can beat the hilarious introduction the first king, Saul, receives. In these two podcasts (again repeated)1 I’ll point up some of the fun in the tale of Saul and the donkeys 
So, here are links to the audio:
Rembrandt (1606–1669) Sacrifice of Isaac (Wikimedia)
Usually I try to present the ideas in these podcasts so that anyone can understand. However, this time if you cannot read Scripture except in translation and you have not learned to use an interlinear or computer Bible to get beyond that handicap, this podcast may be less accessible.
It deals with the naming of God, in one of the most challenging and difficult stories in the Bible, the near-sacrifice (or binding) of Isaac.
An unheard of second warning, in this podcast I don’t reach any conclusions, I either leave that to you, or you will have to wait till I am inspired to make a follow-up ‘cast 
So, here’s the link to the audio: Would a rose smell as sweet? What’s in a name? Genesis 22
"It was slightly disturbing to find giant 'Thomas the Tank Engine' faces looking up from the ground" by oxyman
In these two verses we get some more clues about how to read the book of Jonah, we’ll notice how everything is big, and how the ship has personality. I’ll suggest that Jonah is in some ways like a children’s story, larger than life and painted in bright primary colours. I’ll even suggest that there are hints the telling is like Thomas the Tank Engine
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Jeremiah gets more personal in his complaints, but his “conversation” with YHWH still seems to shut out any response… curiouser and curiouser… and which ending will you choose of this series?
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Continuing a series on The Confessions of Jeremiah, we’ll explore the second of these rich and complex texts Jer 15:10-21. Although I only have 5 minutes I hope I’ll give you material to spark several times that of study of the biblical text for it is out of such personal wrestling (sometimes like Jeremiah’s struggles with Yahweh) that we grow and learn from our Bible reading
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An Act against Atheism and Blasphemy, Massachusetts Bay Colony, 1697 (Wikimedia)
In the previous two podcasts in this series I’ve introduced “the Confessions of Jeremiah” and the first confession (11:18-12:6). Here we’ll look at this text from the point of view of how it portrays the characters of Jeremiah (in the book the speaker of the passage) and his God (whom he often addresses and on whose behalf he speaks to others).
I’ll suggest that this passage is far from a neat static cartoon of Jeremiah and God on one side and the Judeans (or the “Men of Anathoth”) on the other, goodies and baddies. Rather it shows a rich depth of character as Jeremiah learns to experience God more profoundly.
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